Tokyo (awp / afp) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange rose on Friday, finishing at its highest in nearly two months in the wake of gains in technology stocks on Wall Street the day before and good results from Japanese companies.
The flagship Nikkei index gained 0.87% to 28,175.87 points, closing above 28,000 points for the first time since June 9, and signing over the whole week an advance of 1.3%.
The broader Topix index rose 0.85% to 1,947.17 points.
The Nikkei initially hesitated in the morning because of the decline of the Dow Jones in New York the day before, but “the buying trend then strengthened and the index quickly exceeded the 28,000 point mark, which constituted a barrier “psychological,” Okasan Online Securities commented in a note.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index progressed more modestly, gaining 0.3% around 06:30 GMT.
On the side of values
DEFENSE OFFENSIVE: Some Japanese defense values have advanced amid Chinese military maneuvers following the visit to Taiwan by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida calling for the “Immediate cessation” of these exercises, during which ballistic missiles fired by China would have fallen into the exclusive economic zone of Japan, according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense. The firearms manufacturer Howa Machinery thus gained 2.13% to 860 yen, and the industrial group Nippon Avionics jumped 3.23% to 2,678 yen.
Oil and currencies
Oil progressed: after 06:20 GMT the price of a barrel of American WTI advanced by 0.75% to 89.20 dollars and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea rose by 0.65% to 94.73 dollars.
On the foreign exchange market, the yen lost ground against the dollar, which was worth 133.31 yen around 06:30 GMT against 132.89 yen Thursday at 21:00 GMT.
The Japanese currency also fell against the euro, at 136.31 yen against 136.16 yen the day before.
The European currency traded for 1.0226 dollars against 1.0246 Thursday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
mac/lum